Car closures



July 29, "1958 B. H. FORD 2,845,118

. CAR cLosUREs 4 Filed Aug. 29, 195e Ilr c I /NV'E/vroe.- i l mW/m 4 "arm-57,2%?

ATTO/PNE United States Patent 2,s4s,11s

CAR cLosUREs Barton H. Ford, Omaha, Nebr., assignor, by mesne assignments, to Ford Grain Door Company, Omaha, Nebr., a corporation of Nebraska Application August 29, 1956, Serial No. 606,928

4 Claims. (Cl. 160-368) This invention relates to car closures, and more particularly to railway cars, trucks, or other vehicles having oppositely-disposed door openings which are to be barricaded or closed for the holding of granular material therein.

An object of the invention is to provide, in combination with temporary door closures formed of sheet material, brace bar or support members which provide means for securing tie members between the door panels on opposite sides of the car. Another object is to provide in such a structure a brace bar having a piercing lug providing an opening for receiving a tie member in the securing of the closures. A still further object is to provide, in combination with temporary door closures such as corrugated paper doors, etc., brace bar structures which are equipped with attachment points sharpened so as to be extended through the doors and apertured to receive tiewires or elements. Other specic objects and advantages will appear as the specification proceeds.

The invention is shown, in an illustrative embodiment, by the accompanying drawing, in which- Figure l is a broken perspective view of a car equipped with closures and with brace bars and tie elements embodying my invention; Fig. 2, a broken vertical sectional view; Fig. 3, a perspective view of a brace bar which may be employed; and Fig. 4, a transverse sectional view, the section being taken as indicated at line 4-4 of Fig. 2.

In the illustration given, A designates a railway car provided with oppositely-disposed openings having side frames 10. A door 11 is extended across the inner surface of each of the frames to provide a closure across the door opening, the door being formed of corrugated board, paper plies, plastic sheeting, or any other suitable material adapted to provide a door closure of atemporary or disposable type. In general, such temporary doors are referred to as sheet doors and, if desired, the sheet material may be reinforced with metal straps, as

illustrated in my Patent No. 2,599,443.` The door is preferably provided at its bottom with a sealing flap 11a, and may be held in position against the oor by a foot board or pry-board 12. A headboard 13 may be secured to the side frame members 10 at the upper edge of the door 11 to provide a support for the person who secures the doors in place and leaves the car before iilling. If desired, the edges of the board 11 may be reinforced by side battens 14 or laths. Since the foregoing structure is old and wellknown in the art, a detailed description herein is believed unnecessary.

In combination with a pair of doors 11, as shown in the drawing, I employ elongated brace bars 15 which may extend in a vertical, or generally vertical, direction along the outside portion of each door, the bars being provided with barbs or piercing anges 16 which may be thrust readily through the sheet door 11 so as to provide accessible lugs or flanges on the inside of the door. The lugs on the inside of the door are provided with openings 17 adapted to receive the tie-wires or filaments 18. Instead "ice of the openings 17, it will be understood that hooks or other opening-equipped fastening devices may be employed for receiving the tie-wires. I prefer to employ the barb members 16 with the apertures 17 therein because such openings securely hold the iilaments 18 during transit and further interfere least with the piercing of the door sheets when the bars 15 are placed in position.

The bars 15 may be formed in any suitable manner and may be of any suitable form. In the illustration given, the bars are U-shaped in cross section, as shown best in Fig. 4, and the barb anges 16 may beseparate elements welded to the forward wall of the bar, or, if desired, they may be struck from the metal of the bar and pressed outwardly to provide the pointed anges shown. By bending the end portions of the bar rearwardly to provide rounded or rearwardly-turned ends 19, I avoid any danger of tearing the doors and prevent the bars from interfering with and loosening the pry-board or headboard, etc.

In the operation of the structure, the doors 11 are set up by the operator in the usual manner, the door edges or the supporting metal straps thereof being nailed to the frame members 10, the nailing on one side being at an angle to draw the door taut, and thereafter the hatten members 14, if used, are secured in place and the battens 12 and 13 secured as above described. It will be understood that in place of battens, large-headed nails or staples may be often employed and the door structure described is Amerely illustrative of one mode of securing the sheet door in place.

The bars 15 are then pressed into the position shown, with the barb anges 16 extending through the sheet doors 11 and exposing the openings 17 on the interior of the car. It is relatively easy then for operator to pass the tiewirev or tie elements through the openings 17 of the various lugs 16 and then twist the free ends together to form a closure knot 20 or otherwise secure the ends of the wire. In the foregoing operation, the barbs 16 are not only caused to pierce the doors 11 readily, but they serve as a means for holding the bars in place while the operator is theading and securing the tie-wire 18, as above described.

In the unloading operation, the door panel may be cut to provide an opening through which the grain or other granular material is discharged, and in the final disassembly of the door structures, it is merely necessary to cut the tie element 18 and to withdraw it from the bars, the bars being saved for further use.

Instead of employing a single brace member 15 at the outside of each door, it will be understood that a number of brace bars may be employed and these may be placed in different angular positions and may be equipped with one or a plurality of the piercing lugs 16.

In the use of the structure described, it isfound that the piercing lugs 16, being thin and wide, form a narrow slit within the sheet door and the front broad face of the bar 15 serves as a closure about the slit to prevent the escape of granular material therethrough.

While, in the foregoing specification, I have set forth a specific structure in detail for the purpose of illustrating the invention, it will be understood that such details of structure may be varied widely by those skilled in the art Without departing from the spirit of my invention.

I claim:

1. In a car having a pair of oppositely-disposed door openings equipped with door frames, temporary door closures secured to said frames across said openings and comprising eXible ysheet members, a brace bar at the outer side of each sheet and accessible from within the car, each said bar having a plurality of vertically-spaced lugs extending through said sheet and having inner portions provided with apertures for receiving a tie member, said lugs being in the form of flat piercing webs extending longitudinally of the'bar to form a narrow, vertical slit within the sheet door, said lugs beingspaced from the edges of the bar, and tie member means engaging the lugs of said oppositely-disposed bars.

2. The structure of claim 1, in which the sheet doors are formed of paper.

3. A brace bar for use with a temporary lsheet door closure for confining granular material, comprising an elongated bar having a wide inner flange lportion adapted to abut the outer face of the sheet door, and verticallyspaced thin piercing lugs extending inwardly fro-m the said flange portion, the wide dimension of said lugs being in the vertical plane and positioned centrally of said bar, whereby the wide ange portion of said bar provides protective closures about said lugs to prevent the escape of granular material, said lugs being apertured at their inner portions adapted to receive atie member.

4. For use with temporary door closures mounted upon door frames at opposite sides of a car, brace bars equipped l protective closure portions of said bars about said lugs, and tie member means engaging the apertures of said flanges so as to connect the oppositely-disposed bars of said car.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,972,539 Simpson Sept. 4, 1934 2,361,081 Brandon Oct. 24, 1944 2,581,991 Weiss Jan. 8, 1952 

